BALTIMORE, MD – Prestigious Johns Hopkins University is being
targeted by a national watchdog group after discovering federal reports
which document that three monkeys – two of them juveniles – negligently
strangled to death, and a rabbit was boiled alive inside the
university's research laboratories.

Federal reports filed within the last year document the primate deaths
at JHU, as well as a rabbit left in a cage which was sterilized –
boiling the rabbit alive, said SAEN (Stop Animal Exploitation NOW),
which monitors the nation's research laboratories for abuse.

SAEN has filed an Official Complaint against JHU with the U.S. Dept. of
Agriculture, alleging improper animal handling, unqualified personnel,
among other violations, and is seeking the maximum legal penalty --
$10,000 per violation/per animal, which could lead to federal penalty in
the tens of thousands of dollars.

SAEN said that a government report also describes deliberate animal
abuse at JHU, with the report noting that "a summer employee working in
a rodent housing facility deliberately had injured mice in his care."
SAEN, however, said the mouse abuse cannot be penalized, because mice
are exempt from coverage in federal regulations by the Animal Welfare
Act.

"The negligence which allowed primates to die of strangulation and a
rabbit to be cooked to death deserves the maximum penalty,” said Michael
A. Budkie, A.H.T., Executive Director, SAEN. “These animals
suffered horribly, dying unnecessarily, and this facility should pay the
price.”

The federal reports and the Official Complaint are both available upon
request from SAEN.